03-02-2009, 04:39 AM
Quote:Hi,
As to the Hippocratic Oath, that is not as clear cut as some think.
--Pete
I'm well aware of the murkiness of the Hippocratic Oath. I'm also aware enough to know that the arguments used by the doctors that wish to deny services and information to their patients hide behind the aformentioned murkiness as a way to divest themselves of any need to follow modern medical ethics.
One can argue the semantics of the Oath till their blue in the face, it's not modern ethics that needs to fit the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath needs to be assimilated to fit with the needs of ethics as it pertains to modern medicine. Essentially what these doctors are saying is: "We understand the ethical structure of modern medicine. We choose not to follow it." And then they rationalize that with a straw man argument about semantics.